Back in the winter of 2011, while his best-selling book Too Big to Fail was being turned into an HBO movie, The New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin started futzing around with an idea for a TV show about New York’s financial elite. After developing the concept for a couple years, he was introduced to the screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien. The pair, who had achieved fame with the script of Rounders years earlier, were coincidentally interested in bringing a hedge-fund narrative to television.

The trio eventually met in the spring of 2013, and soon began work on a spec pilot, which they sold in early 2014. On Sunday, Billions will make its debut on Showtime. “So it was five or six years for me,” says Sorkin. “This was a long time coming.”

Here, the co-creator and executive producer discusses the show, the role of reporting in creating TV, and Wall Street culture in general.

Vanity Fair: Was there a particular news event that sparked the idea for this series?

Andrew Ross Sorkin: It wasn’t a news event, but for a long time I was thinking about how you would craft a show around the world of finance and hedge funds. Then two things happened simultaneously: First, I was watching Law and Order and I realized that legal shows always work. Second, around this time some of the early insider-trading “expert network” cases were being built. To some extent, that was a eureka moment: figuring out how to take finance and the legal world and pit them against each other.

As a journalist, was it strange to work in fiction?

As a journalist, a big part of what you do is search for drama and conflict. And a lot of the backstory with Billions is grounded in my journalistic background.

Did you funnel a lot of observational and atmospheric reporting into this show?

I definitely care about the authenticity. I want people who live in this world to see certain scenes and go, “Oh, yeah, that feels real.” And you want the language to be real. For instance, we intentionally chose not to duck away from or dumb down the language in which these people speak.

So, were you heavily involved in ensuring that the trading floor was eerily quiet, as it often is in real life—antithetical to many people’s imaginations—and that there were the preponderance of middle-aged guys in half-zip sweaters?

Early on we talked a lot about wardrobe. What would Bobby Axelrod—Damian Lewis’s character—wear? And what would Bobby wear to a conference? Would he wear a button-down shirt? Would he wear a tie? Would he wear a T-shirt with a Tom Ford blazer?

Were those considerations made for U.S. attorney Chuck Rhoades, Paul Giamatti’s character?

If you literally go downtown and walk into the Southern District office, especially around the bull pen, it looks just like that on our set. The set designers did an amazing job. Paul’s office is slightly more wood-paneled than Preet Bharara’s.

Is Bharara’s office really that big?

Preet has a pretty big office.

Rhoades and Axelrod seem pretty similar to Bharara, the current U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Steven A. Cohen, the infamous hedge-fund trader. Was that intentional?

I don’t think so. To me, Bobby is a unique character who is distinct in many ways. Whether it’s his backstory or his blue-collar upbringing in the business, or the fact that he is a public activist investor, there are many differences from Cohen. What’s funny is that I’ve heard from a lot of people throughout the business who are convinced that Bobby is based on them. Preet met with Paul Giamatti directly, and obviously Preet has been pursuing insider trading for years; but you could say there are also similarities with Giuliani in the 1980s, Mary Jo White, and [Robert M.] Morgenthau. Some people have said that he is [Eliot] Spitzer-like.

Many viewers will come away from this show surprised that there is such a job as a Wall Street shrink—and what an important role it is.

There is a whole network of psychologists and performance coaches whom I’ve interviewed through the years. Brian Koppelman is good friends with Tony Robbins, who speaks every day, I think, with Paul Tudor Jones.

Many of the traders in Billions refer to their positions or stakes as “ideas.” Did you intend to underscore the more creative aspects of Wall Street?

This was really a function of an amazing team of writers and the fact that we brought a lot of hedge-fund managers into the room—to talk about what they thought, what they did, and what drove them. We really made an effort to be authentic and capture that. Traditionally, we think that people with ideas are innovators—that Silicon Valley is the world of ideas. But within the hedge-fund world, they believe that they are men of ideas—that the trade is unto itself one of ideas.

I don’t want to give anything away here, but there is, well, an S&M subplot to Billions. Is this a reported observation?

Is my mother going to read this? Brian and David, my co-creators, wrote a film directed by Steven Soderbergh called The Girlfriend Experience, starring the adult star Sasha Grey. They had done some research before starting that process and they interviewed a number of clients of escorts. One of the things they were surprised by is that the more powerful the person, professionally, the more likely they were to be in a submissive position. We all found that fascinating, and added an interesting layer to the plot.

Did you ever worry about the challenges of releasing a popular show about Wall Street in 2016?

To me, this is as much about Wall Street as it is about what it is taking places in America. Embedded in this story is the influence of money in America now, and what it can buy, and whether it is the role of government to check that power. To me the show is about how America grapples with the rise of inequality.

You’ve written a book, produced a documentary, and remain a committed reporter and TV host. What is a pleasure of scripted television that you don’t get from your other endeavors?

Jeff Bezos

It’s tough to think of anyone who had a better financial year than Jeff Bezos, until you look at his company, Amazon, whose stock soared 115 percent over the course of the year. Naturally, that translates to Bezos’s own net worth, which increased 105 percent, or nearly $30 billion, making him the billionaire whose piles of money grew faster than any other billionaire in 2015. If that is not enough to cap off Bezos’s year, his commercial space-flight company Blue Origin successfully launched and landed a rocket this fall, and, most important, he joined Twitter (where he subsequently threw subtle shade at fellow space pioneer Elon Musk). Here’s to hopefully more social-media feuding, rocket launches, and 11-figure increases in the year ahead.

Thomas Peterffy

Hungarian-born pioneer of computerized stock trading Thomas Peterffy had one heck of a 2015. Peterffy, the chairman of electronic broker Interactive Brokers Group, saw his fortune rise more than 38 percent, or about $5 billion. Peterffy, who listed his 80-acre Greenwich, Connecticut, estate for $65 million this summer, has Interactive Brokers’ strong performance to thank for his second place ranking on this most illustrious list. The stock climbed more than 45 percent so far this year, which, if you own nearly 85 percent of the brokerage, as Peterffy does, means a nice chunk of change. Maybe this means he will add another Salvador DaliAlice in Wonderland statue to his office (he already has one on his desk, according to Bloomberg). He can certainly afford it.

Photo: By Matthew Furman/Forbes Collection/Corbis Outline.

Facebook Founders

As Facebook saw its stock rise close to 35 percent in 2015, so did the fortunes of two of the social network’s co-founders. Dustin Moskovitz and his former freshman year roommate at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg, got a 35 percent and 33 percent increase to their net worths this year, respectively. That’s about $2.7 billion for the curly-haired Moskovitz, Facebook’s biggest individual shareholder behind Zuckerberg, and $11.4 billion for Zuck himself. Though the 31-year-olds are both billionaires many times over, all money is money appreciated, especially for Moskovitz, who left Facebook to start his own company, Asana, and Zuckerberg, new millennial dad to baby girl Max. It also means more money for the duo to donate, as Moskovitz has pledged to give away the bulk of his fortune, and Zuckerberg announced he would put 99 percent-worth of his Facebook shares into a charitable L.L.C. upon the birth of Max. Oh, to be 31, a college dropout, and a Facebook co-founder.

Google Guys

It’s still good to be Google after all these years—2015 was a year in which the company restructured, renamed itself Alphabet, and rebranded with a new logo. All of that change was for good in the eyes of investors, as the stock has soared 44 percent so far this year. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company’s co-founders and Alphabet’s C.E.O. and president, respectively, take the fourth and fifth spots on this list, with each seeing their net worths increase by about 32 percent (around $9.8 billion for both Page and Brin). Eric Schmidt, who came to Google in 2001 and was named Alphabet’s chairman this year, saw a 24.4 percent boost, or about $2 billion, placing him seventh on the list (just behind Jan Koum, below). You can Google that.

Photo: By Paul Sakuma/AP Images.

Jan Koum

The 39-year-old WhatsApp co-founder and C.E.O. could be lumped in with the Facebook guys on this list, since his Facebook shares are responsible for his 26.6 percent bump this year—tacking on about $1.8 billion to his net worth. Koum, who sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $22 billion in cash and stock in 2014, has been riding the Facebook high this year. He also unloaded about $286 million worth of shares in November, after the social network’s stock hit a then all-time high. The Facebook magic was enough to knock Eric Schmidt away from his fellow Googlers on the list and nudge his way into sixth place.

Photo: By Robyn Twomey/Redux.

Micky Arison

If you thought no one would want to go on cruises after a series of high-profile norovirus outbreaks and ships sinking, tell that to Micky Arison, chairman of Carnival Cruise Line, the world’s largest cruise-line operator. The company’s stock has surged nearly 20 percent so far this year, thanks to strong earnings and positive 2016 outlook. Arison, who also owns the Miami Heat, saw his fortune increase 24.4 percent increase, bringing his total close to $2 billion.

Photo: By Alyson Aliano/Redux.

Mark Shoen

He may not have the name recognition that some of the other billionaires on this list enjoy, but Mark Shoen and his bank account don't mind. An owner of Amerco, the company that owns U-Haul, Shoen received a delivery of an extra $1.2 billion this year—a 24 percent increase—as Amerco's stock skyrocketed more than 38 percent. That's a package tied up with quite a pretty little bow. (There were no photos of him on file.)

Jeff Bezos

It’s tough to think of anyone who had a better financial year than Jeff Bezos, until you look at his company, Amazon, whose stock soared 115 percent over the course of the year. Naturally, that translates to Bezos’s own net worth, which increased 105 percent, or nearly $30 billion, making him the billionaire whose piles of money grew faster than any other billionaire in 2015. If that is not enough to cap off Bezos’s year, his commercial space-flight company Blue Origin successfully launched and landed a rocket this fall, and, most important, he joined Twitter (where he subsequently threw subtle shade at fellow space pioneer Elon Musk). Here’s to hopefully more social-media feuding, rocket launches, and 11-figure increases in the year ahead.

Thomas Peterffy

Hungarian-born pioneer of computerized stock trading Thomas Peterffy had one heck of a 2015. Peterffy, the chairman of electronic broker Interactive Brokers Group, saw his fortune rise more than 38 percent, or about $5 billion. Peterffy, who listed his 80-acre Greenwich, Connecticut, estate for $65 million this summer, has Interactive Brokers’ strong performance to thank for his second place ranking on this most illustrious list. The stock climbed more than 45 percent so far this year, which, if you own nearly 85 percent of the brokerage, as Peterffy does, means a nice chunk of change. Maybe this means he will add another Salvador DaliAlice in Wonderland statue to his office (he already has one on his desk, according to Bloomberg). He can certainly afford it.

By Matthew Furman/Forbes Collection/Corbis Outline.

Facebook Founders

As Facebook saw its stock rise close to 35 percent in 2015, so did the fortunes of two of the social network’s co-founders. Dustin Moskovitz and his former freshman year roommate at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg, got a 35 percent and 33 percent increase to their net worths this year, respectively. That’s about $2.7 billion for the curly-haired Moskovitz, Facebook’s biggest individual shareholder behind Zuckerberg, and $11.4 billion for Zuck himself. Though the 31-year-olds are both billionaires many times over, all money is money appreciated, especially for Moskovitz, who left Facebook to start his own company, Asana, and Zuckerberg, new millennial dad to baby girl Max. It also means more money for the duo to donate, as Moskovitz has pledged to give away the bulk of his fortune, and Zuckerberg announced he would put 99 percent-worth of his Facebook shares into a charitable L.L.C. upon the birth of Max. Oh, to be 31, a college dropout, and a Facebook co-founder.

Google Guys

It’s still good to be Google after all these years—2015 was a year in which the company restructured, renamed itself Alphabet, and rebranded with a new logo. All of that change was for good in the eyes of investors, as the stock has soared 44 percent so far this year. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company’s co-founders and Alphabet’s C.E.O. and president, respectively, take the fourth and fifth spots on this list, with each seeing their net worths increase by about 32 percent (around $9.8 billion for both Page and Brin). Eric Schmidt, who came to Google in 2001 and was named Alphabet’s chairman this year, saw a 24.4 percent boost, or about $2 billion, placing him seventh on the list (just behind Jan Koum, below). You can Google that.

By Paul Sakuma/AP Images.

Jan Koum

The 39-year-old WhatsApp co-founder and C.E.O. could be lumped in with the Facebook guys on this list, since his Facebook shares are responsible for his 26.6 percent bump this year—tacking on about $1.8 billion to his net worth. Koum, who sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $22 billion in cash and stock in 2014, has been riding the Facebook high this year. He also unloaded about $286 million worth of shares in November, after the social network’s stock hit a then all-time high. The Facebook magic was enough to knock Eric Schmidt away from his fellow Googlers on the list and nudge his way into sixth place.

By Robyn Twomey/Redux.

Micky Arison

If you thought no one would want to go on cruises after a series of high-profile norovirus outbreaks and ships sinking, tell that to Micky Arison, chairman of Carnival Cruise Line, the world’s largest cruise-line operator. The company’s stock has surged nearly 20 percent so far this year, thanks to strong earnings and positive 2016 outlook. Arison, who also owns the Miami Heat, saw his fortune increase 24.4 percent increase, bringing his total close to $2 billion.

By Alyson Aliano/Redux.

Mark Shoen

He may not have the name recognition that some of the other billionaires on this list enjoy, but Mark Shoen and his bank account don't mind. An owner of Amerco, the company that owns U-Haul, Shoen received a delivery of an extra $1.2 billion this year—a 24 percent increase—as Amerco's stock skyrocketed more than 38 percent. That's a package tied up with quite a pretty little bow. (There were no photos of him on file.)